Lost love ring from America found in Finnish forest after 47 years
A ring lost in 1973 in the U.S. state of Maine has been found in a forest in Finland. Debra McKenna lost the ring 47 years ago and thought she would never find it again.
McKenna received the jewelry from her beloved Shawn at the end of his school days. Engraved inside was his name and the year of his graduation: Morse High School, 1973, S M.
Debra lost the ring shortly thereafter in a department store, where she had taken it off to wash her hands and placed it on a sink. "When I realized I had forgotten it, I went to look for it there, but it was gone," she told television station WGME-TV. "I left my name and number, but no one contacted me. I never saw him again." Until now, that is:
Debra was with Shawn all her life, after they married in 1977. Her husband died of cancer three years ago. "We had a good life together," she says.
Metal Detector
Two weeks ago, she suddenly received the ring in the mail. A metal worker had found the piece of jewelry in Finland while walking with a metal detector in a forest. "Usually my findings are bottle caps or other junk," he proudly told a Finnish newspaper.
The man decided to contact the Morse High School alumni association. With the year and initials engraved on the jewelry, they were able to figure out that the ring must have belonged to Shawn McKenna.
How the ring ended up in the Finnish forest is still a big mystery. Her late husband had once been to Finland for work, but never to the forest where it was found. Moreover, the ring had been lost for 20 years by then.
"Shawn always said that coincidences don't exist," she says now because of this. She thinks her husband may be trying to tell her something: "He wants to make it clear that I have to get on with my life."
Debra is grateful that the finder went to such lengths to get the ring back to her. "There are good people in the world, we need more of them," she said.
Source: NOS
